THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. i. 



the amount of provisions transported. A good three- 

 fathom canoe will carry three men and five hundred- 

 weight of provisions conveniently, without being too low 

 in the water in a large and rapid river ; neither is it more 

 than one man, accustomed to the work, can carry over 

 the portages, which, in the wilds of Eastern Canada and 

 Labrador, are generally long, ' rough,' and only capable 

 of admitting the passage of the small canoes used by the 

 Montagnais Indians. 



I made my preparations during the month of May 

 1861, bearing the foregoing considerations in mind, and 

 acting in accordance with them as far as circumstances 

 would permit. On the 4th of June, my party being 

 formed, and all needful preparations completed, we started 

 from Quebec in the steamer 'Arabian' down the noble 

 St. Lawrence. Our destination was the mouth of the 

 Moisie Eiver, Gulf of St. Lawrence, about 400 miles 

 from the great port of Canada, which at that time pre- 

 sented a very animated spectacle. An unusually large 

 number of merchantmen were sailing majestically up the 

 river ; others lay anchored in the rapid stream, or, moored 

 three and four deep, side by side, occupied the spacious 

 coves above the city. 1 was accompanied by my brother, 

 Mr. William Hind, who had just arrived from England in 

 the ill-fated steamer ' Canadian,' soon to be lost on her 

 return passage, near the Straits of Belle Isle. 



My brother joined the expedition for the purpose of 

 making sketches and water-colour drawings of scenery, 

 Indians, and any novelty in the vegetable or mineral 

 world which it might be desirable to transfer to his 

 portfolio. 



